The Mentor Fleet Monitor is a comprehensive service that provides enhanced vehicle monitoring capabilities.

Vehicles that speed or idle unnecessarily can drive up operating costs.

A US Environmental Protection Agency study reported that trucks left idling for long periods of time waste approximately 960 million gallons of diesel fuel each year.

According to the US Department of Transportation, an average truck burns 0.9 gallons of fuel per hour idling.

By tracking and controlling driver speed behaviour, a company can reduce accidents, according to Mentor.

When a speed or idling event occurs, data is sent from the in-vehicle mobile computer to a server, hosted by Mentor, where speed and idling reports are created for the client.

Using this information, clients can identify at-risk drivers and develop training programmes to encourage safer driving practices and to reduce fuel costs.

With the fleet monitoring service, clients can customise the speed and idling reports desired for each vehicle in their fleet.

After choosing which reports they want and how often they want them generated, the client receives the reports automatically via email and can view the precise location of each speed or idling event on a satellite map for an additional layer of tracking accuracy and context.

Mike Koebel, vice-president of sales and business development at Mentor, said: ‘With the ability to track when and where vehicles exceed a speed threshold and reducing the avoidable idling of vehicles, clients can encourage better driver behaviour and see real fuel savings.

‘Monitoring vehicle idling also provides another way to support green initiatives,’ he added.